Joe DiMaggio - Biography - IMDb Joe DiMaggio Jump to: Overview (5) | Mini Bio (1) | Spouse (2) | Trivia (52) | Personal Quotes (18) Overview (5) 6' 2" (1.88 m) Mini Bio (1) Joe DiMaggio was simply the greatest all-around baseball player of his era, which was the last before integration changed the complexion of the game in the 1950s. As a New York baseball legend, "The Yankee Clipper" succeeded superstars Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig and preceded Mickey Mantle . In his 15 year career from 1935 to 1951 (which was interrupted by three years spent in the Army during World War Two from 1943-45), DiMaggio won three Most Valuable Player awards and was named to the All-Star team thirteen times. His 1936 Yankees team won the World Series his freshman year, as it did in 1937, '38 and '39.

The four straight wins was a record that would be surpassed by the Yankees team of 1949-53, of which "Joltin' Joe was a member for their first three World Championships, retiring after the 1951 season due to incredible pain that he had stoically endured. Ultimately, he played in 10 World Series, of which the Yankees won an incredible nine. (Only Yogi Berra , his teammate from 1946-51, appeared on more world champions, winning 10 rings in 14 World Series.) DiMaggio is the possessor of what many consider the one batting record that will never be breached: consecutive games hitting. From May 15 to July 17, 1941, he hit in 56 straight games. DiMaggio beat out the great Ted Williams of the Red Sox for the MVP award that year, even though Ted hit .406.

DiMaggio also beat Williams for the MVP in 1947, when "The Slendid Splinter" won his second Triple Crown the year after he had led the Red Sox to their first World Series since Babe Ruth was a pitcher and utility outfielder for the BoSox in 1918. It was the tightest MVP contest in history not ending in a tie: DiMaggio racked up 202 points with eight first place votes while "Teddy Ballgame" collected 201 points with three first place votes. Such was the respect for DiMaggio, whose team won the pennant and the World Series, that he won over a Triple Crown winner! DiMaggio was a flawless outfielder, and considered the major cog that made the Yankees winners. He was the consummate team player in an era (the Depression and World War II) in which cooperation was emphasized to beat the economic doldrums and global fascism. Williams, in contrast, was fabled as a non-conformist and individualist derided for "playing for himself", playing to boost his statistics rather than "taking one for the team".

He would not shake the negative associations of not being a "team player" and not winning a World Series until after the Youth Revolution of the 1960s made conformity passé and nonconformity the norm. But that lie in the future. In the 1940s, he was easily the most popular man in what was then justifiably called "America's National Past-time". His popularity was so great that the U.S. Army would not let him go overseas during the war, lest he be killed or captured, and thus damage American morale. In 1949, DiMaggio signed with the first six-figure contract in the history of Major League Baseball, when the Yankees signed him for $100,000 per year. That year he was hampered by the bone spurs that would end his career prematurely. Despite excruciating pain, an injured DiMaggio came back from the disabled list to face the Red Sox, who had nearly won the pennant the year previously (losing in a one-game playoff to the Cleveland Indians) and were up by one game with two games left to play against the Yankees.

His injuries would limit him to 76 games that year, but he came back for the series. The torrid hitting of DiMaggio led the Yankees over the BoSox in both games, capturing the pennant (and the first of a record five straight World Series titles) for rookie Yankees manager Casey Stengel . In an era of genuine heroes, DiMaggio was the epitome of the genre. Such was his unique status that he retired after a mediocre 1951 season, in which he hit only .263 with 12 homers and 71 RBIs in 113 games (after hitting .301 with 32 homers and 122 RBIs in 139 games the previous year). Joe DiMaggio did not want to become an average player, playing out his string. He wanted to go out a champion, and he did. Joe DiMaggio played his entire career in Yankee Stadium, the "House that Ruth Built", so called not only due to the Babe's great popularity, but also because the park was tailored to his left-handed power.

Joe DiMaggio was a right-handed hitter in a park that was death to righties: left-center field at Yankee Stadium in 1937 was 457 feet deep (whereas now, it is 399 feet deep). As DiMaggio and Ted Williams aged, it became dogma that while Williams was the better hitter, DiMaggio was the better all-around player. However, it is interesting to note that outside of their home ballparks (and the left-handed hitting Williams's average was boosted at Fenway, which had been tailored for HMO), DiMaggio outhit Williams. In 1969, a poll conducted to coincide with the centennial of major league baseball ranked him as baseball's greatest living player. The great Joe DiMaggio, whom many believe was the most perfect and most complete ballplayer of all time, would continue to be legendary, even if he had not married Marilyn Monroe , the love of his life, which is a whole 'nother story. - IMDb Mini Biography By: Jon C.

Hopwood Spouse (2) Trivia (52) A monument was dedicated to him in Yankee Stadium on April 25, 1999 Inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame, 1955. Played for the American League's New York Yankees, 1936-1951 (except for military service, 1943-1945). Holds the Major League Baseball record of hitting safely in 56 consecutive games (1941). Never remarried after Marilyn Monroe 's death. Banned the Kennedys and Rat Packers from Marilyn Monroe 's funeral. His number 5 was retired by the New York Yankees. The day after his 56 game hitting streak ended, DiMaggio embarked on a second streak that lasted 16 games. Had he hit in game #57, he would have had a 73 game hitting streak! Became the subject of death threats while dating Myrna Fahey in 1964. The FBI determined the threats came from a patient at Agnews State Hospital (Santa Clara, CA) who could not bear to see DiMaggio with anyone other than Marilyn Monroe .

In an irony, Monroe's mother, Gladys Baker , was a patient at Agnews when DiMaggio began dating Monroe. Almost signed to write his memoirs with Joseph Durso , but backed out because he didn't want to talk about Marilyn Monroe . Durso went ahead and penned "DiMaggio: The Last American Knight." It was the closest DiMaggio ever came to cooperating with any of his biographers. An estimated 20,000 well-wishers jammed the streets around San Francisco's Church of Sts. Peter's and Paul's to witness DiMaggio marry Dorothy Arnold. Was sued by first wife Dorothy Arnold in June 1952 to get full custody of their son, claiming his now-girlfriend Marilyn Monroe posed a threat to the boy's morals. Suit was dismissed in February 1953. Claimed Marilyn Monroe 's body after her death, and arranged her funeral, paying for her casket and crypt, and was the only one of her former husbands to attend the funeral. Diamond and platinum "eternity ring" DiMaggio gave to Marilyn Monroe after their marriage was auctioned by Christie's for $772,500.

[October 1999] Marilyn Monroe won an interlocutory decree from DiMaggio on 27 October 1954, but, under California law, the divorce was not finalized until exactly 1 year later. Died at precisely 12:12 AM EST. Wanted no money for his cameo in The First of May (1999), but SAG rules dictated he had to accept the minimum salary of $250 per day. Vice-President of the Baltimore Orioles (1979 - 1988) Executive Vice-President and batting instructor for the Oakland A's (1968 - 1969) First athlete in North American pro sports history to be on 4 World Championship teams in his first 4 pro seasons. In total, DiMaggio led the New York Yankees to 9 World Series titles in 13 years. Was born in a two-room dock-side house (destroyed by fire in 1948) and delivered by a midwife, identified on his birth certificate only as Mrs. J. Pico, at approximately 7:00 AM PST.

Only player to hit a home run at the Polo Grounds, Ebbets Field and Yankee Stadium. The Joe DiMaggio Children's Hospital opened on September 17, 1992, for which DiMaggio raised over $4,000,000. Elián González was taken there after he was found by two fisherman off the coast of Miami. Became the 1st baseball player to sign a contract for $100,000 ($70,000 base salary + bonuses). In 1950 and 1951, he signed contracts for $100,000 firm. [February 1949] Les Brown 's hit song "Joltin' Joe DiMaggio" of the early forties was a tribute to DiMaggio's 56 game hitting streak of 1941. The only recorded instance of DiMaggio exhibiting any emotion on the field was during the 1947 World Series. He kicked the dirt after Al Gionfriddo's amazing catch of an otherwise home run.

Named the Greatest Living Player in a 1969 poll to celebrate baseball's 100th anniversary. American League MVP (1939, 1941, 1947). Known for playing a graceful centerfield, he was the best at the position during the thirties and forties. First athlete to be awarded The Presidential Medal of Freedom [10 January 1977] Wore #9 during the first half of his rookie year (1936) before being switched to #5. #9 was later given to Roger Maris , in whose honor the Yankees retired it in 1984. His mother wanted him to become a bookeeper because of his proficiency in math. Despite their son's popularity, Giuseppe and Rosalie DiMaggio - as were thousands of Italians - were deemed "enemy aliens" after Pearl Harbor was attacked. They had to carry photo-identification booklets at all times, weren't allowed to travel more than 5 miles from their home without a permit, and Giuseppe's fishing boat was seized.

Linked to Marian McKnight , Lee Meriwether , Liz Renay , Cleo Moore , Marlene Dietrich , Morgan Fairchild , Dixie Evans , Gloria DeHaven , Rita Gam , and Elizabeth Vargas . But he never publicly confirmed any involvement with any woman. McKnight told an interviewer in 2005 that she was never romantically involved with DiMaggio. His parents were from Isola delle Femmine, an islet off the coast of Palermo, Sicily; neither knew English. DiMaggio and his siblings did not learn English until they started school. Not surprisingly, English was DiMaggio's worst subject at school. Named Giuseppe by his mother in the hopes that he (the 8th) would be her last child; his middle name Paolo (Paul) was in honor of Giuseppe's favorite saint, St. Paul. For 20 years after the death of Marilyn Monroe , DiMaggio had a half-dozen red roses placed at her crypt 3 times a week. The flowers were ordered and delivered from Parisian Florist, 7528 Sunset Blvd., Los Angeles, CA. Dorothy Arnold converted to Catholism to marry DiMaggio.

When each remarried, they were excommunicated for bigamy; this was later reversed by Vatican II. Had DiMaggio's streak reached 57 games, Heinz would have hired him to endorse their Heinz 57. Always insisted on being introduced as "baseball's greatest living ballplayer" at any event after he had been awarded that title. Mentioned in the Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel song "Mrs. Robinson.". Biography in: "American National Biography". Supplement 1, pp. 161-163. New York: Oxford University Press, 2002. Two grandchildren, Paula Hamra and Cathy Stein (adopted by his son). Four great-grandchildren. Mentioned in Madonna 's "Vogue", John Fogerty 's "Center Field," Joss Stone 's "Whatever Happened to the Heroes," Tori Amos 's "Father Lucifer," and Billy Joel 's "We Didn't Start the Fire.".

Referenced in: "South Pacific" song "Bloody Mary"; Raymond Chandler 's novel "Farewell, My Lovely"; Woody Guthrie 's song "DiMaggio Done It"; Ernest Hemingway 's novel "The Old Man and the Sea"; Seinfeld: The Note (1991); The Simpsons: 'Tis the Fifteenth Season (2003); and Boobs in the Woods (1950). Auction of over 1,000 DiMaggio's personal possessions held by his son's adopted daughters: 2,000th hit baseball ($29,900); 1947 MVP Award ($281,750); game-worn 1951 World Series uniform ($195,500); Hall of Fame ring ($69,000); photo Marilyn Monroe autographed "I love you Joe" ($80,500); her passport ($115,000); their marriage certificate ($23,000). The event netted $4.1 million.

[19-20 May 2006] Joe DiMaggio - Bio, Facts, Family | Famous Birthdays Joe DiMaggio Sagittarius Baseball Player#6 About Yankees Hall of Fame outfielder who was named to 13 All-Star games, won 9 World Series Championships and was named AL MVP 3 times. Before Fame His father wanted him to be a fisherman, but he became a ballplayer instead. Trivia He set an MLB record with an amazing 56-game hitting streak that many believe will never be broken. Family Life He was married to Marilyn Monroe from 1954 until 1955. He had a son named Joseph III with his first wife Dorothy Arnold. His brothers Dom and Vince also became MLB outfielders. Joe DiMaggio – A Life In Collectibles Joe DiMaggio – a life in collectibles 0 0 We look at Joe DiMaggio's life through his memorabilia as the world marks his 100th birthday Joe DiMaggio was many things: all-star baseball player, Marilyn Monroe's two-time husband, sergeant in the US airforce, and a cultural icon. Yet he lived for baseball.

Having taken up the sport just to get out of cleaning his father's fishing boat, he rose to become one of the greatest players the sport has ever seen. As DiMaggio's 100th birthday is celebrated on November 25, we take a look at his life through collectibles. 1937 New York Yankees cap Image: Grey Flannel Auctions Coming up for sale at Grey Flannel Auctions in December, this cap is one of the few surviving pieces of memorabilia from Joe DiMaggio's rookie career, which began on May 3, 1936 with the New York Yankees. By the time DiMaggio joined the Yankees, they hadn't won the World Series since 1932. Batting ahead of the mighty Lou Gehrig, the young DiMaggio led the team to the next four Fall Classics, one of nine titles won by the Yankees in his 13-year tenure. **1941 Play Ball Joe DiMaggio baseball card ** Image: PSA/DNA By 1941, Joe DiMaggio had become the biggest star in the Yankees team.

Now nicknamed the Yankee Clipper, he was in the prime of his career, hitting home runs like nobody's business. The 1941 season is undoubtedly the greatest of DiMaggio's stellar career. From May that year, he established a hitting streak that would last an incredible 56 games, a record that still stands. Hailing from this crucial year, the 1941 Play Ball baseball card starring Joe DiMaggio is his rarest. Any Play Ball cards are rare, especially from 1941, as it was the only year in which they were issued in colour. The finest known example, a Mint 9 graded card, sold for $83,542 at Memory Lane, Inc in 2005. **56-game hitting streak ball Image: Hunt Auctions The 56-game streak is DiMaggio's greatest achievement, described by an American scientist as "the most extraordinary thing that ever happened in American sports" after analysing the probability of such an event happening again. A welcome distraction from the grim news of the second world war coming in from Europe, DiMaggio's batting exploits were eagerly watched by the entire nation.

Willie Keeler established the previous record at 44 games some years before, but DiMaggio surpassed this as the Yankees faced the Red Sox on July 2, 1941. This is the ball that entered his name into the record books, the one that he smashed into the left fields to set a new all-time record of 45 straight games with a base hit. The ball is marked "Hit-No.45 Sam J Strumolo 1464 71st Brooklyn, Ny 7-2-41", with Strumolo the man who picked it up at the game. He later returned it to DiMaggio, and it was sold as part of his personal collection at Hunt Auctions in 2006 for $55,000. 1947 Most Valuable Player award Image: Hunt Auctions DiMaggio picked up three of these in his career, the first in 1939, second in 1941 and the final one in 1947. That's not to mention his 13 All-Star appearances (he was invited to the game in every year he played).

He might have had an even more impressive batting average than .325 had he not played for the Yankees, with the "House that Ruth Built" tailored to Ruth's left-handed power, making home runs almost impossible for right handers. 1947 saw DiMaggio's Yankees finish with a record of 95-57, finishing 12 games ahead of Detroit Tigers and picking up their 15th pennant. In the World Series, the team defeated the Brooklyn Dodgers in seven games. The MVP award sold at the landmark auction of DiMaggio's personal collection for an impressive $245,000 – the record for his memorabilia sold at auction. Winchester Model 21 Image: James D Julia Inc DiMaggio was a famously quiet and conservative man. Uninterested by the celebrity status his baseball playing had brought him, he spent much of his free time hunting waterfowl in the countryside. This Winchester Model 21 is a great reminder of the man outside his career. It was presented to him following his record steak and was made especially for duck hunting.

Offered at James D Julia Inc, it was estimated at $125,000-250,000 but failed to find any takers. 1951 New York Yankees jersey Image: Hunt Auctions "I feel like I have reached the stage where I can no longer produce for my club, my manager, and my teammates," wrote Joe DiMaggio in the Sporting News on December 19, 1951. The broadcast followed a bad year for Joltin' Joe, who was understandably feeling his age (37) after 13 years at the top. "I had a poor year, but even if I had hit .350, this would have been my last year. I was full of aches and pains and it had become a chore for me to play. When baseball is no longer fun, it's no longer a game, and so, I've played my last game." Collectors were keen to commemorate his stellar career with big bids for the last Yankees jersey he ever wore, paying an impressive $170,000 at Hunt Auctions in 2006.

**Marilyn Monroe signed photograph ** Image: Hunt Auctions It wasn't until long after DiMaggio had retired that he met the love of his life, Marilyn Monroe. Having been married once before, the aging athlete was not the obvious candidate for Monroe's suitor, a position many man of the day wanted. And Marilyn wasn't too keen on him either, having stated in her autobiography that she had presumed he would be like all the other athletes she had met – arrogant and macho. But she soon discovered the quiet and reserved DiMaggio and the two fell in love, marrying at San Francisco City Hall in January 1954. However, the relationship was fractious, with the pair constantly arguing. The conservative DiMaggio hated the attention Monroe got from other men and apparently screened her fan mail. The final straw came during the famous Subway Scene in Monroe's Seven Year Itch, when her skirt is blown upwards by an air vent. DiMaggio could not handle the world gawping at his wife, and she filed for divorce a month after the scene was shot, citing mental cruelty.

This photograph is a fantastic reminder of the period when the pair were infatuated with one another, with Monroe simply signing "I love you Joe, Marilyn x". It made $70,000 from his personal collection in 2006, proving that ol'DiMaggio still carried a torch for the Blonde Bombshell until he died. Joe DiMaggio and Marilyn Monroe signed baseball Image: Heritage Auctions After their split, DiMaggio and Monroe remained good friends. When Monroe ended her marriage to playwright Arthur Miller and checking into the Payne Whitney Psychiatric Clinic due to alcohol and prescription medication dependence, it was DiMaggio who came to her rescue. DiMaggio secured her release from the clinic and had her move in with him in Florida. Hoping to protect her, DiMaggio attempted to persuade Monroe to disconnect with the hangers-on he felt were taking advantage of her fragile state. They claimed to be just friends, but many suggested they were due to remarry. According to his former employer, DiMaggio had even quit work because he wanted to move away with the star. This ball was signed by the pair during the brief stint of reconciliation.

It made $191,000 at Heritage Auctions in 2006, setting a record for any signed baseball ever sold at auction. Sadly, Marilyn Monroe died on August 5, 1962. Joe DiMaggio had spoken to her on the phone the night before and said that she seemed fine, but it was revealed she had overdosed on painkillers. When DiMaggio's time was up in 1999, at the grand old age of 84, he is rumoured to have said, "I'll finally get to see Marilyn." Special mention: Mr Coffee machine Image: Heritage Auctions While most of us know Joe through his ball playing, or even his relationship with Marilyn Monroe, but some simply know his "Mr Coffee". DiMaggio was the face of Mr Coffee for more than 20 years, as well as a spokesman for the Bowery Savings Bank. Now, those Mr Coffee machines aren't exactly collectible, but Heritage Auctions still sold one back in 2004 for a whopping $55.

Joe DiMaggio wanted Marilyn Monroe to be his demure housewife so when she posed for this picture he beat her up | Daily Mail Online Joe DiMaggio wanted Marilyn Monroe to be his demure housewife so when she posed for this picture he beat her up comments Marilyn Monroe had money, fame and critical acclaim, but what she wanted most was a man to love her. The men she loved - and who loved her back - were Joe DiMaggio, Arthur Miller and Frank Sinatra. But all three were troubled relationships. In our final extract from a definitive new biography, we reveal the blazing rows, the miscarriages and the morning she seduced Sinatra... Baseball player Joe DiMaggio saw some publicity shots of Marilyn Monroe in March 1952 and decided to ask her for a date. Although she was a dazzlingly beautiful movie star, he was at that time by far the bigger celebrity. His brilliance with a baseball bat for the New York Yankees made him one of America's most revered heroes. He had retired from baseball just a few months before, aged only 36, because of injuries - but the public adored him still as a sporting legend.

Iconic: Marilyn Monroe posed for this sexy, skirt-flying shot for The Seven Year Itch but husband Joe DiMaggio was incensed with jealousy and beat her The date was set for March 8, at Villa Nova, an Italian restaurant which is now The Rainbow Bar And Grill on Sunset Boulevard. Marilyn, who wasn't sure she was much interested in a baseball player, was late by two hours. But he impressed her. Despite his quiet, almost sullen demeanour, he still managed to command the whole room. He wasn't goodlooking: his face was all sharp angles, with teeth not only bucked but haphazardly arranged, and eyes too close together. He was lanky and spindly. He didn't walk, he lumbered. But power seemed to emanate from him. After dinner, they drove around Beverly Hills for three hours, fascinated by each other. During the summer of 1952, Marilyn and DiMaggio began to date more regularly. But red flags were raised by her concerned friends. He didn't like her career, he thought women should be firmly in the home, he was jealous of the attention she generated from other men.

In July, Joe took her home to San Francisco to meet his family. Once there, she clearly saw why Joe wanted his wife to be domestic - women raised children, cooked and cleaned, and it had always been that way in the DiMaggio family. The eighth of nine children of Sicilian immigrants, Joe was raised with strict Catholic values in a household that stressed a strong work ethic and, above all, pride in their Sicilian heritage. At the end of summer, Joe dropped a real bombshell: he thought it would be best if Marilyn abandoned her acting. It only caused her stress, he argued, so why do it? 'Joe was sick and tired of Marilyn's career,' said Stacy Edwards, who was a sportswriter at the time in Philadelphia and knew DiMaggio well. 'He said he wanted to get her out of the movies. "We'll buy a nice home in San Francisco and just live a simpler life," he told me. Enlarge Resentment: Marilyn with Joe in 1954. In the October of that year they were divorced after only nine months of marriage 'I knew Joe and I knew what he was about deep down, and it wasn't just Marilyn's career.

The attention she got, he was used to getting. When he walked into a room with her, he disappeared. He wasn't used to that at all. He was used to being centre of attention. But with Marilyn, no man could ever be centre of attention. Joe couldn't accept that.' Then, on New Year's Eve 1953, Joe asked her to marry him. Carried away by the moment, Marilyn said yes. On January 14, 1954, they were married in a quick civil ceremony in San Francisco. She made a strange request though. If she died before him, would he promise to place flowers at her grave every week? He promised - and years later would fulfil this bleak pledge. Even with his ring on her finger, DiMaggio could not reconcile himself to Monroe's stardom. He turned to his friend Norman Brokaw, a Hollywood agent, for advice. 'I want her to quit,' he told him, 'but she won't do it.' Norman mulled over his friend's problem for a moment and said: 'Joe, let me explain something to you, as an agent in this town.

There's no actress in this business who is going to give up Clark Gable or Tyrone Power or Spencer Tracy for any man. 'In fact, I don't know any actress who'd be willing to give up her career when she's on her way to the top, any more than you'd have given up your baseball career before its time. So you have to get used to it. Or, honest to God, you're going to lose her.' Not long after this meeting with Norman, Joe wrote in his personal journal about Marilyn: 'No jealousy . . . Don't forget how lonesome and unhappy you are - especially without her.' But the jealousy wasn't the only problem. 'He was smacking her around,' said one of his closest friends. 'He didn't seem too ashamed of it, either. He said that she brought the worst out in him, that he wasn't usually that kind of man. He said she was spoiled and very self-centred and it drove him crazy.' The final straw for Marilyn came when Joe beat her up in their hotel after he became incensed at the sexy, skirt-flying shoot for The Seven Year Itch.

Five thousand onlookers watched the filming of that shot, at one in the morning, with Marilyn standing over a subway grate, her accordion-pleated skirt flying. Unfortunately, DiMaggio was one of them. Director Billy Wilder described the expression on DiMaggio's face as 'the look of death'. Even though Marilyn wore two pairs of pants for modesty, under the powerful Klieg lights the material became quite see-through. Unhappy marriage number two: Marilyn was always afraid playwright husband Arthur Miller, would 'find out' she wasn't intelligent enough for him He rushed back to their hotel and waited for his wife. Then he took out his rage on her, slapping her around the room. The noise was so great that other hotel guests reported it to the hotel's management, afraid that someone was getting badly hurt. The next day, Gladys Witten, a studio hairdresser, noticed bruises on Marilyn's shoulders. 'But we covered them with make-up,' she said. Sportswriter Stacy Edwards says: 'The way I heard it, Joe let her have it. It was pretty bad. After he hit her, she told him she'd had enough and wanted out of the marriage.

'I spoke to Joe maybe three weeks later and asked him about that night. He said "Things got out of hand, I admit it. But she p****d me off so much. She didn't care what I thought about anything, she just wanted to do what she wanted to do." 'I lost a lot of respect for Joe when I found out he hit Marilyn. I thought "How could any man hit such a beautiful creature?"' On October 27, 1954, just nine months after her wedding - Marilyn stood before a judge and detailed her reasons for her divorce petition. She said DiMaggio was 'cold and indifferent' to her and that days would go by when he wouldn't speak to her. DiMaggio didn't make an appearance and the divorce was granted. One of the people Marilyn could turn to during this time was her friend Frank Sinatra. While her divorce was being finalised, she went to live with Sinatra for a couple of weeks to recover emotionally. Sinatra was miserable himself at this time, because of the slow erosion of his marriage to actress Ava Gardner, said to be the love of his life. For a time, his relationship with Marilyn was platonic.

That situation apparently changed early one morning when Sinatra went into the kitchen and found Marilyn standing in front of the open refrigerator, trying to decide between orange juice and grapefruit. By the time Marilyn came to make Some Like It Hot, she was mired in extreme depression while the cast and crew thought she was incredibly unprofessional She was naked. 'Oh, Frankie,' she said, feigning embarrassment, 'I didn't know you got up so early.' 'That was the end of anything platonic,' reported Sinatra's friend Jimmy Whiting. 'Actually, Frank had been going through this impotency trip at this time. The booze was completely ruining his sex life. He was getting too old to drink like that and then expect to perform in the sack. He was frustrated by it, because one thing Sinatra always prided himself on was his ability to satisfy a woman.' Apparently, Marilyn cured Sinatra of his impotence, at least for a while. 'Frank said that Marilyn was like a shooting star,' observed actress Esther Williams, 'and you couldn't help but be fascinated by her journey.

While you knew she was going to crash and burn, you didn't know how.' The only reason Sinatra wouldn't allow himself to become more serious with her was because he was still racked with pain over Ava. RELATED ARTICLES Share this article Share A few months later, in the spring of 1955, Marilyn began a relationship with the intellectual playwright Arthur Miller. He was married when he met Marilyn and lived on the East Coast with his wife and two children. They secretly began dating. Miller loved how well Marilyn listened to him, the way she hung on his every word. One mutual friend of the couple put it best: 'She was all about listening and receiving and he was all about talking and sending. He lectured her constantly. She was mesmerised by him. She drank him in like a sponge.' However, she was reluctant to marry him because she wasn't sure she was right for him. He could continue to dazzle her with his intelligence, but she confided in friends she didn't think she was intelligent enough for him. 'What will he do when I'm found out?' she fretted. Yet, despite her doubts, on June 29, during a very quick private service, Marilyn and Miller were married in New York.

They travelled together to London in the summer of 1956 where Marilyn would have the unhappy experience of filming The Prince And The Showgirl with Laurence Olivier. Lover: Frank Sinatra, pictured with actress wife Ava Gardner before they split, had a brief relationship with Marilyn Mabel Whittington, a maid at the newlyweds' rented house, recalled: 'They seemed happy at the start, but as the months wore on he was constantly nagging her, usually how he felt she should prepare for the day's work. He picked on her a lot. She seemed to really want to know his opinion, though. 'However, I think there was a point when she'd had enough, especially when he began to criticise her acting when she was practising from her script. She'd walk around the house trying to remember a simple line, repeating it to herself over and over. 'He was annoyed and he kept correcting her. She snapped at him and said: "When you begin making pictures, we can discuss this. Until then, let me act and you do what you do."' Shortly before filming was to begin, Marilyn happened to see a journal Arthur wrote, open on a table, and read it. What she saw terrified her.

On those pages, Arthur confessed he had second thoughts about having married her. She wasn't what he'd thought she was - she was just a child, not a woman. She wasn't as intelligent as he hoped and, in fact, she was someone he pitied. Moreover, he thought his career might be jeopardised by his new association with her. He had heard that Laurence Olivier thought she might be a spoiled brat, and he didn't know how to respond to that, since he basically agreed. He called her a bitch. It was the realisation of Marilyn's worst fear - that she would be 'found out', that she wasn't as smart or as talented as she had made him think she was, and now he knew the truth. 'It seemed to be raining the whole time,' Marilyn would say of her experience in England. 'Or maybe it was me.' In July the following year, Marilyn learned she was pregnant. She wanted nothing more than to have a baby, but it was an ectopic pregnancy and she lost the baby. For the following year she was deeply depressed. By the time she came to make perhaps her most famous film, Some Like It Hot, she was mired in extreme depression.

The best pictures of her career: Photographer Douglas Kirkland shot the famous snaps of Marilyn, naked in silk sheets, in 1961 the year before her death On September 12, 1958, after a long and emotional telephone conversation with Arthur, Marilyn took an overdose of sleeping pills - something she had done several times before. Had it not been for her drama coach, Paula Strasberg, coming to her rescue, she might have died. Once Miller arrived in LA to be with her, he realised practically everyone connected with Some Like It Hot, from Billy Wilder down, found his wife incredibly unprofessional. Miller was embarrassed for her and for himself. He was angrier with her than ever. 'My feeling about Arthur Miller was that he was a little too resentful of his wife,' Wilder recalled. 'I wasn't married to her. I didn't have to be patient and loving. But he was her husband and I thought he could have been more understanding.

I remember saying at the time: "Finally, I have met someone who resents Marilyn Monroe as much, if not more, than I do." ' To compound her misery, on December 16, 1958, Marilyn suffered a miscarriage and, after a series of operations, was told she would never be able to have children. The marriage limped on during the filming of The Misfits - written by Miller and which, unknown to either of them, would be her last film. 'Marilyn and Arthur so loathed each other, I'm not sure how either of them got through this movie,' recalled make-up artist Allan Snyder. Yet again her hopes of a happy marriage were to end in the divorce courts. It wouldn't be long before Marilyn was hospitalised with a breakdown. She turned, strangely, to Joe DiMaggio to rescue her. He'd been in therapy and although he could still be jealous and controlling, he proved a loyal and trusted friend, although both knew better than to risk remarrying. During this time, Marilyn also rekindled her romance with Sinatra.

'He was in love with her, no doubt about it,' said Milt Ebbins, business partner to President Kennedy's brother-in-law, the actor Peter Lawford, and a good friend of Sinatra's. Her problems with drink and drugs were almost too much for him, though. In September 1961, Marilyn joined Sinatra on his yacht for a four day cruise to Catalina Island. She drank plenty of champagne and the more she drank, the more disoriented and boisterous she became. She also took plenty of the sleeping pills to which she was addicted. Sinatra became frustrated and embarrassed by her behaviour. One of his former associates recalled: 'Tell you the truth, Frank couldn't wait to get her off that boat. She was embarrassing him. He told me: "I swear to Christ, I am ready to throw her right off this goddamn boat." 'Instead, he called one of his assistants at the end of the trip and had her taken back to his place. He told me later that when he got home, she was sound asleep on the couch. 'He picked her up and moved her to the bedroom. He undressed her and put her under the covers where she slept soundly through the night.

I asked Sinatra if he was going to stop seeing Marilyn and he said: "By now, I would have cut any other dame loose. But this one - I just can't do it."' Perhaps what is most telling about this time in her life is that despite her terrible unhappiness, the photographs of Marilyn are the best of her career. Photographer Douglas Kirkland, who took the famous pictures of her in November 1961, lying in bed covered in white silk, says the idea was hers. 'She sat beside me and put me at ease. I was young and didn't know how to ask her to pose for sexy images, but she simplified it, suggesting: "I should get into bed with nothing on but white silk." We discussed the details and she said she wanted Sinatra music and chilled Dom Perignon.' She never looked lovelier than she does in those photographs. How she was able to turn on the professional Marilyn Monroe, at the same time as she was so terribly troubled, remained a true mystery to her friends and associates. It was as if she only found true bliss in front of the camera as the perfect vision of herself. She certainly never found it with any man.

• Extracted from The Secret Life Of Marilyn Monroe by J. Randy Taraborrelli, published by Sidgwick & Jackson on September 18 at £18.99 ° 2009 J. Randy Taraborrelli. To order a copy (p&p free) for £17.10 call 0845 155 0720.

Question: Who was the most famous wife of baseball player Joe DiMaggio?
Answer: Marilyn Monroe